I suppose the tenement began to pall on me.
It must not be supposed that I enjoyed any degree of privacy, because I had half a room to myself.

We were six in the five rooms; we were bound to be always in each other's way.

And as it was within our flat, so it was in the house as a whole.

All doors, beginning with the street door, stood open most of the time; or if they were closed, the tenants did not wear out their knuckles knocking for admittance.

I could stand at any time in the unswept entrance hall and tell, from an analysis of the medley of sounds and smells that issued from doors ajar, what was going on in the several flats from below up.